Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-10-13

| saw that she was a neat little bOat-nOt q
canoe dug OUT but built more or less in
the European fashion, with planks, and
carrying a singularly large sail for her
| size. But our attention was soon diverted
from the boat to her crew, which consisted
of man and woman, nearly G5 aUllite GS
| 0atrselUes.
| We stared at each other in amazement,
| thinking that we must be mistaken; but
no, there was no doubt about it, They
were not fair, but the two people in the
boat were decidedly of white as distin-
| guished from black race, as white, for
instance, as Spaniards or Italians. 1t was
| patent fact. So it was true, after ALL
and, mysteriousIy led by Power beyond
| our own, we had discovered this wonder
| full people. could have shouted for Joy
when thought of the glory and the Won
/ der of the thing; and as it was, we all shook
hands and congratulated each other on the
unexpected success of our wild search.
| All my life had | heard rumors of white
race that existed in the highlands of the
| interior of this vast continent and longed
| to put them to the proof; and now here /
saw it with my own eyes, and was dunn
| foundered Truly. as Sir Henry said, the
old Roman was right when he wrote, eek
| Africa Semper aliquid novi," which he
! tells me means that out of Africa there al
ways comes some new thing.
The man in the boat was of a good but
not particularly fine physique, and pos
| sessed straight black hair, regular aquiline
| features, and an intelligent face. He was
| dressed in sort of brown cloth garment,
| something like flannel shirt without the
| sleeves and in an unmistakable kilt of the
| same material. The legs and feet were
Eare. Round the right arm and left leg he
wore thick rings of yellow metal that /
judged to be gold. The woman had a
sweet face, wild and shy, with large eyes
and curling brown hair. Her dress was
| made Of the same material as the mans,
and consisted as we afterWard discovered,
first of linen undergarment that hung
down to her knees, and then of a single
60. @f,.i,, IF "l0th. about four feet wide by
hL5een long, Which was wound round tie
oody Id graceful folds and finally flung
over the left shoulder SO that the END,
which was dyed blue or purple or some
other color, according to the social stand
ing of the wearer, hung down in front, the
right arm and breast being, however. left
quite bare. A more becoming dress, espec-
tally when, as in the present case, the
wearer was young and pretty, it is quite
impossible to conceive. Good (who has an
eye for such things) was greatly struck with
it, and SO indeed was ]. 1t was so simple
and yet SO effective.
Meanwhile, if we had been astonished at
the appearance of the man and woman, it
was clear chat they were far more aston
ished at US. AS for the man, he appeared
to be overcome with fear and wonder, and
for awhile lowered round our canoe, but
would not approach. AT last, however, he
came within hailing distance, and called
20 us in a language that sounded soft and
pleasing enough, but of which we could
not understand one word. So we hailed
back in English, French, Latin, Greek,
German, Zulu, Dutch, Sisutu, Kukuana,
and few other native dialects that | am
acquainted with, but our visitor did not
understand any of these tongues; indeed,
they appeared to bewilder him. AS fer the
lady, she was busily employed in taking
stock of US, and Good was returning the
compliment by staring at her hard through
hts. eyeglass, proceeding that she seemed
rather to enjoy than otherwise. Atlc:l. tn
the man, being unable to make anything
out of US, suddenly headed his boat rouad
and began to head off for the shore, his
little boat skimming away before the wind
like swallow. AS she passed across our
bow the man turned to attend to the large
sail, and Good promptly took the opportuni-
ty to kiss his hand to the young lady.
was Mortified at this proceeding, beta on
general grounds and because I feared she
might take offense; but to my delight she
did not for. first Glancing round and see
ing that her husband or brother, or who
ever it was,s was engaged, she promptly
kissed hers back
Abr said /, sit seems that we have at
last found a language that the people Of
this country understand"
''In which case" said Sir Henry, Good
will prove al invaluable interpreter"
| froWned for 90 not approve of Goods
frivolities, and he knows it, and turned
the conversation to more serious subjects.
''It is very clear to me,'' said, that that
man will be back before long with host
of his fellows; SO we had best make up our
minds as to how we are going to receive
them"
'The question isshow will they receive
us" said Sir Henry.
AS for Good he made no remark; but be-
gan to extract small square tin case. that
had accompanied us in all our wanderings,
HULL uiIeSI al PIE VI uUllISS. NOW we llttti
often demonstrated with Good about this
tin case, inasmuch as it had been an awk-
ward thing to carry, and he had never
given any very explicit account as TO its
contents: bat he had insisted on sticking
to it, saying mysteriously that it might
come in very useful one day.
What on earth are you going to do,
Good?" asked Sir Henry.
tDo? Why dress, of courset You don't
expect me to appear in a new country in
these things, do you?" and he pointed to
his soiled and worn garments, which were,
however like all Goods things, very tidy,
and with every tear neatly mendcd-
We said no more, but watched his pro-
ceedings with breathless interest. His
first step was to get Alphonse, who was
thoroughly competent in such matters, to
trim his hair and beard III the most ap-
proved fashion. l think that If he had had
some hot water and cake of soap handy
he would have shaved off the latter; but he
had not This done, he suggested that we
should lower the sail of the canoe and all
take q bath, which we did, greatly to the
horror and establishment of AlphOnSe. who